Wild boar sausages

Winter

It’s worth making your own sausages – they’re always infinitely better than most of the excuses for sausages you find in supermarkets. I know it’s a bit of a project, but it’s such fun and much simpler than you might think – once you have the kit, that is. A mincer is pretty crucial, as is a sausage filler – although both may come as a combined attachment for your kitchen mixer. Or, you can buy them independently from a variety of online specialists (try weschenfelder.co.uk). Boar makes a lovely, subtle gamey sausage, but fresh pork will make something equally good.

Makes 2kg (4lb 8oz) sausages

Ingredients

4m (13ft) hog casings (sausage skins)
2kg (4lb 8oz) wild boar belly, skinned and boned
200g (7oz) breadcrumbs
20g (¾oz) fine sea salt
10g (¼oz) freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon soft light brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and grated
100ml (3½fl oz) iced water

Method

Wash the salt off the hog casings and leave them to soak for several hours in a bowl of fresh water. Change the water once or twice during soaking.

Cut the boar meat into small 2–3cm (¾–1¼in) cubes. Keep an eye out for any membrane or cartilage and remove it – you don’t want to put any of that in your sausages.

Coarsely mince the belly meat. Then, place it in a large mixing tray or bowl. Scatter over the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme leaves and garlic, and mix thoroughly until everything is well combined. Add the iced water, and mix again. When the mixture is even, put it back through the mincer.

Pull off a golf-ball-sized piece of the sausagemeat and squash it into a small patty. Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat and quickly fry the patty, just until it’s cooked through, then taste to check and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

Place the sausagemeat in a bowl, cover and place it in the fridge while you wash your mincer and set up your sausage-filling machine. Keeping the mixture as cold as possible means the mince will go through the filler more easily and your sausages will last longer. Pass the mince through the filler and fill and link or twist off the sausages to your preferred size. Store them, covered, in the fridge for 4–5 days. Alternatively, bag them up and freeze them.

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